My philosophy of curriculum has developed through the years. It began with the idea of what I had to follow to do my job according to the boss. You have to understand that my first few years teaching I did not HAVE a curriculum guide or knew where to find one. We followed units that were written by teachers in our team. I hope that they followed the state standards to develop the units, but in my mind…it was my guide. Of course years of experience and time changed this tremendously. I believe that when a district has the written, taught, and tested curriculum fitting together into a workable road map, then students benefit and the school’s vision is accomplished. In Week 1, I defined curriculum as the guide or tool that drives instruction. To expand on that now, I would say that curriculum is the clear, concise, valid set of student objectives and processes to be taught and learned in our schools. Effective curriculum must be aligned vertically and horizontally and must be consistent across campuses, ensuring equitability. It is important for curriculum to be reviewed and assessed regularly; with current best practices and it should be user friendly. I believe this course has helped me broaden my understanding and get a big picture concerning the background and importance of curriculum. I had the advantage of experiencing dramatic changes with our curriculum in our schools. I was involved in the development of curriculum management overhaul and experienced the stages mentioned in our Week 5 with the change. Now, there is a feeling of relief when you can look back and see the benefits from the hard work. I believe that having the written, taught, and tested curriculum pieced together is most important to getting your goals met in school improvement. Teachers gain confidence knowing that their workable plan has proved to bring positive results.
5335 - Curriculum Management
Reflections
My philosophy of curriculum has developed through the years. It began with the idea of what I had to follow to do my job according to the boss. You have to understand that my first few years teaching I did not HAVE a curriculum guide or knew where to find one. We followed units that were written by teachers in our team. I hope that they followed the state standards to develop the units, but in my mind…it was my guide. Of course years of experience and time changed this tremendously. I believe that when a district has the written, taught, and tested curriculum fitting together into a workable road map, then students benefit and the school’s vision is accomplished.In Week 1, I defined curriculum as the guide or tool that drives instruction. To expand on that now, I would say that curriculum is the clear, concise, valid set of student objectives and processes to be taught and learned in our schools. Effective curriculum must be aligned vertically and horizontally and must be consistent across campuses, ensuring equitability. It is important for curriculum to be reviewed and assessed regularly; with current best practices and it should be user friendly. I believe this course has helped me broaden my understanding and get a big picture concerning the background and importance of curriculum.
I had the advantage of experiencing dramatic changes with our curriculum in our schools. I was involved in the development of curriculum management overhaul and experienced the stages mentioned in our Week 5 with the change. Now, there is a feeling of relief when you can look back and see the benefits from the hard work. I believe that having the written, taught, and tested curriculum pieced together is most important to getting your goals met in school improvement. Teachers gain confidence knowing that their workable plan has proved to bring positive results.